Reunited
by McFucktruck
Summary: Zuko is walking through the city and finds his old komodo rhino on the loose, as well as a certain Lieutenant he thought was dead.


Fire Lord Zuko was taking a stroll in the city of Caldera, accompanied by three advisors who just wouldn't leave him alone, as well as four guards. The new trade agreements with the Earth Kingdom were progressing nicely and the markets were thriving. The state approved projects kept the returned soldiers busy and kept the economy going. It was shaky, to be sure, but it was slowly manifesting in the Fire Nation again.

This morning was particularly busy, seeing as the new shipments were coming in and people on the docks were unloading the cargo. People milled around, some shouting and organizing the whole thing, others working diligently, others sitting on the sidelines, drinking and laughing at the commotion.

The Fire Lord turned his attention to a particularly stubborn komodo rhino who was making trouble to the poor soldiers who were trying to get it off the ship and to the market. The animal was obviously displeased with the treatment, and she made it known. She was kicking at the soldiers and buffing them with her horned snout.

The situation was not uncommon seeing as komodo rhinos were known for their bad temper and unruliness. Angry shouts were directed at the animal as one man was thrown to the side and she broke loose.

An angry komodo rhino loose in a mass of people with precious cargo was not an ideal situation. Even worse was that she was headed directly for the Fire Lord who was walking a short distance away.

"Stand down!" said Zuko sharply to his guards as they were about to jump in front of him and charge at the komodo rhino. People turned to look at the Fire Lord as he walked towards the charging animal, seemingly unafraid.

The komodo rhino slid to a full stop right in front of him and growled grouchily. Zuko reached up and patted her on the chin before he scratched her behind her ear.

"Hi girl," he smiled "you miss me?"

She shoved him slightly and nipped at his hands slightly, looking for a treat.

"Ah, so you only miss the food, don't you? Didn't they feed you properly?" he made his way around her and gestured for her to lay down, which she did, to the masses' astonishment. Never had they seen a komodo rhino so calm or affectionate, nor had they seen one so obedient.

The Fire Lord proceeded to rub her gently over the ribs, hoping that she would have a larger mass of padding than she had. Obviously rations had been low for her ribs to protrude so much. The animal groaned and turned on her side, so that the Fire Lord could rub her belly, which he did.

The soldiers who had dropped the ropes approached carefully. "My Lord?" one said hesitantly. Zuko turned his head to him and raised his eyebrow. "I-If I may ask, how are you doing that?"

"She rolled over so I could reach her belly." Zuko said simply.

"Yes, of course. But how did you know she wouldn't attack? Any other person would have moved away, sir. She's very intimidating."

"Oh, I suppose she is when you don't know her. She was one of the komodo rhinos on my ship." Zuko explained and patted her twice on the stomach. She quickly stood up again and Zuko began untying the ropes attached to the horns. "She's a big softie after she gets to know you."

The soldiers were all gaping at the mild treatment the komodo rhino was getting. They had never seen such a non-aggressive komodo rhino before, especially not one they had been struggling with minutes earlier.

"Are you the ones responsible for Daisy's condition?" the Fire Lord asked the soldiers.

"Daisy?"

"The komodo rhino, private."

"Oh, sorry my Lord." He glanced nervously at the Fire Lord trying to gauge his reaction. "We were ordered to bring them over from the colonies, they weren't very healthy then."

Zuko nodded and looked a bit pained at this information, but kept his temper under control. He couldn't very well take it out on the unfortunate soldiers who happened to work up close to the animals.

"She'll be in better hands in the future, I presume?"

"I wouldn't know, my Lord, we're taking them to the marketplace. There's really no knowing where she'll end up."

Zuko called upon one of his advisors who was still covering behind the guards. "Advisor Chen, come over here."

Chen moved closer to the Fire Lord but kept a respectful distance to Daisy, no matter how calm she seemed at the moment. The soldiers snickered lightly at the frightened advisor who obviously put up a brave front.

"My Lord?"

"Bring these gentlemen the appropriate compensation for Daisy. I'm taking her home with me."

He turned to the soldiers again.

"Who's your commander?"

"Lieutenant Jee, sir."

A moment of vulnerability crossed Zuko's face before it turned into a determined frown.

"I think I'll have a word with the good Lieutenant, then." He said dismissively and gestured for Daisy to lie down again. She did so and Zuko climbed on her back. Of course, she had no saddle on, but Zuko had trained her for years and keeping the balance on her was not as hard as many would have thought. It still looked very impressive though.

He quickly rode onto the ship again and looked for the Lieutenant. He was arguing with some soldiers about the cargo and paid no mind to the loose komodo rhino or the irritated Fire Lord who were on its back.

"Lieutenant Jee!" bellowed Zuko and kept Daisy going slowly towards him. Jee turned around at the familiar voice and looked completely shocked. He looked up and down the equipage, from the fancy Fire Lord garments to the docile komodo rhino to the upset teenager. The first thought through his mind was, _wow, he grew out his hair._

"Well you sure know how to make an entrance, Prince Zuko."

"It's Fire Lord Zuko now." Said Zuko snobbishly with such an affronted look on his face that Lieutenat Jee couldn't help but smile widely. Zuko smirked back and jumped off of Daisy's back.

"It's good to see you again, sir." He said with an appropriately low bow.

"Same to you, Lieutenant." Replied Zuko and embraced the man. Jee awkwardly patted him on the back and wondered how long he would hold on. After a few seconds Zuko let go of him.

"I'm glad you survived the North Pole."

Jee looked taken aback and frowned. "We didn't go to the North Pole. Commander Zhao dropped us off after a day at the next port."

Zuko looked ready to explode, but he said nothing. Jee could practically see the wheels turning inside his head, creating different scenarios that would have had very different outcomes. At last he seemed to settle down.

"I thought you were dead." He said gravely as he stared deeply into Jee' eyes. "_I thought you were all dead_."

Smoke was actually coming from his ears as he failed to control his temper. "I have been Fire Lord for months, and not one of you thought to come by and say, ooh, I don't know "HI ZUKO WE ARE NOT DEAD JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW!""

The short rampage was interrupted by Daisy who shoved Zuko to the floor, and then promptly began to search his pockets for food. "Daisy stop it, I'll get you something later." Promised Zuko annoyed as he got to his feet again. He also noticed that he had some komodo rhino saliva clinging to his robes. He decided to ignore it for now.

"Well, Lieutenant, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Um, with all due respect sir," Jee coughed uncomfortably "we didn't know you thought we were dead. I apologize for having worried you."

Zuko narrowed his eyes and glared shortly at the stoic Lieutenant. "Fine. I accept your apology."

Daisy nipped at Zuko's robes again and tore the silk slightly at the arm. Zuko calmly pushed her off again and sighed. "You wouldn't happen to have any jerky on you? Daisy won't leave me alone."

Naturally Jee had jerky in a bag in one of his pockets. Question was, how had Zuko known he would have it?

"Why would a komodo rhino eat jerky?" he asked suspiciously as he was reluctant to part with his precious jerky.

"Oh, she loves it. I used to feed her with it all the tie back at the ship. Didn't you wonder where your jerky stash went sometimes?"

"You were the one who took my jerky? To feed that animal!?"

"Shush, Lieutenant, she has a name. And do you remember who bought the jerky to begin with? You always took more than your rations, anyway. It's not my fault you're so bad at hiding it. Plus, she's really sweet and deserves all the jerky she can eat. Could you say no to that face?"

Zuko gestured slightly to the extremely aggressive komodo rhino who was currently standing beside him, once again nipping at the expensive robes. Jee sighed and said "Suppose not." And handed over the small bag to the Fire Lord. Zuko promptly fed Daisy a couple of pieces before putting the bag in a pocket of his robes.

"How did you get her so tame, anyway? I always thought she was the worst of the bunch."

"She does seem that way, doesn't she?" asked Zuko rhetorically as he started to scratch daisy between the horns on her head. "I think I spent three to seven hours every day down in the rhino hold with her. After a month or so she accepted me, and then I could stay down there whenever I felt like it. I mean I even fell asleep there sometimes, it was just really calming."

Jee looked bewildered as he took the new into account. "But how did you get the time? You were always busy with something, like training or chasing the Avatar."

"I kept myself busy. I didn't sleep a lot, and I always liked animals. It wasn't exactly a though choice, y'know, it's not like anyone wanted me around so…"

"No offense, sir, but you didn't exactly make yourself very approachable."

Zuko opened his mouth as to say something, but as he thought about it, he realized that Jee was right. Not that he'd admit it out loud.

"Anyway, I'm going to take Daisy up to the palace and get her some real food. I have a meeting in an hour, paperwork to catch up on, and nobles to placate."

Zuko made his way onto Daisy's back again and gave her another piece of jerky.

"Therefore, Lieutenant, you are officially invited to dinner this evening, along with whomever crewmember wants to come. We have some catching up to do, seeing as you're all alive and everything. I'll even make sure we have some of that "ridiculously expensive fancy fruit wine" you like so much."

"Is that an order, sir?" asked Jee with a smile tugging at his lips.

"It's an invitation. It implies that you have a choice."

"Implies?"

"Well it would be rude to refuse an invitation from the Fire Lord, wouldn't it?"

"I'd better show up then, Fire Lord Zuko."

"See you soon, Lieutenant."

With that Zuko and Daisy walked off the ship again and made their way down to the irritated advisors and the four guards. Daisy growled at the people she passed and made sure everyone kept their distance from the irritated animal.

Immediately the advisors began pestering him with their opinions of the komodo rhino, and the way he had shouted. Apparently people had heard some words. What a shocker. To think that the Fire Lord was able to raise his voice. Completely unpredictable he'd better remedy that.

"_Shut up_." He said loudly and rudely, but it did its work.

"This is Daisy, she's coming with me. Lieutenant Jee on the ship is an old crewmate I though was dead, which apparently you all heard. He's coming over for dinner today and he's bringing maybe twenty people, I'm not entirely sure. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend."

Daisy walked straight forward and scattered the advisors. The guards diligently followed the equipage through the streets. People made a wide berth for the Fire Lord as he passed by. He could hear the whispers and gossip spreading faster than fire on a warm summer's day. He didn't particularly mind, the gossips about the Fire Lord who had tamed the angry beast would do wonders for his reputation. Daisy wasn't so bad anyway. Not to him. They understood each other.


End file.
